Matchmaking

Starting with NHL 25 EA decided to prioritize finding match ups fast regardless of the quality of the end result.  The rationale being that the player base has dwindled to the point where any filters on the search ( skill level, matching number of players, etc ) would result in unacceptable search times.

Personally, I think it's a flawed strategy.   Teams that insist on matching an equal number of human players will just back out of every uneven match up resulting in long times between matches even if each search is fast. 

But IMO the biggest issue is the lack of any consideration of skill in the match up logic.  Feeding new or lower-skill players into a meat grinder against top-tier teams  does nothing to grow the game or retain new players.  At a certain level of skill gap it can be beneficial to play better teams in order to learn from the experience and grow, but with the current system it's much more likely the lower ranked team is just going to be beaten down with no real chance to learn anything except how to be frustrated with the game.  

You can tell by some stats that a few players are on a slump but that's no excuse to get matched like this.

They say its to get games faster but i'm sure everyone would prefer waiting a few seconds longer to find a good game. Backing out is super frustrating because it can glitch you into never finding a match until reseting

EA has lost a lot of people with a bad product year after year. I’m glad I only paid $28 dollars for this game. The gameplay is so choppy and unpolished it’s sometimes unbearable to play it. 

The cause of the mismatching can be blamed on the reluctance of this franchise to address problems, glitches and any other obscuridity this game has been enduring for years. As a result. More players are shying away from match games, and concentrating more on other venues of the game. Now they are stuck with finding suitable matches due to the low player base. In order to have a segment of this game be successful. You have to first, fine tune your game. Make the venue in question a fair and equally distributed scheme. Entice players to want to play the venue in question. The biggest mistake they made, was bringing about a repititious 50 levels of play, where the rewards remain constant, and incentive no longer exists. Everyone. Whether you play, rookie, pro, superstar or allstar. Arrive at the same ending. Same rewards. As for the online play. Its a mess. Pool is limited, and levels are no longer an issue. Its how a player with superstar skills ends up playing one with pro. Go back to the things in this game that were worthy. And build from there, with emphasis on attracting players, rather than diminishing them. Instead of putting out the same game year after year. Go outside the box. Be inventive. Listen to the wants and needs of the comunity. Then and only then, will this franchise rise from its near death bed, to once again, be a game worth investing in.

They also purposely removed servers this year to force "faster" matchmaking at the cost of higher ping for some players.

RSall14 wrote:

They also purposely removed servers this year to force "faster" matchmaking at the cost of higher ping for some players.

You got a source for this?

i stopped playing HUT years ago and only really play EASHL with my buddies as an online mode. The matchmaking SHOULD BE based on actual rank (bronze/silver/gold/platinum/elite) and nothing else. Match My Room Size also needs to be added again, not one person gives a **bleep** about grudge matches or any of that. Hopefully the Saudi’s bring in people who actually know the game of hockey 

You know what he meant, cmon now. 
Aljo has stated numerous times matchmaking is open season to get faster matches - He's basically not allowed to say anything without the greenlight so this is an official bona fide canon event here mate. You've even said this before, I've said this before. These are the consequences of faster matching. I get matched outside of my region all the time even with "best location" turned on.

On chel regular games i, for the most of the time agree (about in balance in matchmaking high vs low)

but yesterday i and my buddies played playoffs (we are low division) we got most of the time similar skill/rank/rp opponents. 
So ONCE for a long time it felt like a hockey game and a fair challenge, not usual matchmaking vs diamond/purple opponent bulldozer all over our team, destruction derby game. 

Gamechangers have mentioned it multiple times how some servers were removed.